Week 19 Results - Defeats for the top four

Aardvark Abacus 3 v 2 Cheese Makers
Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 3 v 2 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
Real Muppets 2 v 2 Wheel Madrid
San Dimas High School 0 v 1 Mega Buck Bandits
Stanley Athletic FC 3 v 2 The Fabulous Artisans
The Cow-Faced Juniors 0 v 0 Markian United
The Wateringhole Society 4 v 2 Claymore Athletic FC
Trusted By Millions 0 v 1 YTFIB


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	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Claymore Athletic FC	19	13	3	3	60	27	33	42
2	The Fabulous Artisans	19	10	4	5	41	26	15	34
3	Trusted By Millions	19	10	4	5	42	35	7	34
4	San Dimas High School	19	11	1	7	31	26	5	34
5	Stanley Athletic FC	19	10	2	7	49	43	6	32
6	Wheel Madrid	19	8	6	5	50	30	20	30
7	Mega Buck Bandits	19	9	3	7	33	30	3	30
8	Aardvark Abacus	19	9	3	7	32	30	2	30
9	The Wateringhole Society	19	7	7	5	38	38	0	28
10	Cheese Makers	19	8	3	8	36	39	-3	27
11	YTFIB	19	7	4	8	23	24	-1	25
12	Real Muppets	19	6	5	8	40	40	0	23
13	The Cow-Faced Juniors	19	7	2	10	22	35	-13	23
14	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	19	5	2	12	24	47	-23	17
15	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	19	5	0	14	24	45	-21	15
16	Markian United	19	1	3	15	13	43	-30	6

Claymore suffered their first defeat since November but other results went Clive’s way and keep him eight points ahead of the pack. It was the Wateringhole Society that inflicted a 4-2 defeat on the leaders. Kiran’s team had stormed into a 3-0 lead by the 51st minute, pick of the goals was probably Raul Jimenez’ header from a pinpoint cross. Claymore did get it back to 3-2, through Teemu Pukki’s penalty and Sergio Aguero’s finish from a slide-rule through ball, but Jannik Westergaard’s clean ensured the points stayed with the home side.

The Artisans stay second on goal difference after going down 3-2 to the on a charge Stanley Athletic. Aaron was three up in this one three minutes after the break. Nathan Redmond had smashed in from 18 yards, Chris Wood shinned in his tenth of the season and then Stuart Armstrong curled in from 25 yards against one of his former clubs. Roberto Firmino pulled one back for Ben and Kyle Walker got a clean but it wasn’t enough. Trusted and San Dimas both went down 1-0. Beef’s team were beaten by a stunning Ricardo Pereira strike for YTFIB, my team succumbed to Mark Noble’s penalty for Mega Bucks.

Wheels are sixth after letting a two goal lead slip against the Muppets. Jorginho’s penalty and Callum Wilson breaking his goal drought for Paul W were pegged back by cleans from Joel Ward and James Tarkowski for Ryan. The Aardvarks edged out Cheese Makers to take eighth place. Jordan Henderson ‘shouldered’ in to put Ady ahead on eight minutes, Troy Deeney scored a proper header for Matthew to level it by the break. Son Heung-Min put Ady ahead for a second time but the Cheesers thought they’d grabbed a point when a shot flew in off Tyrone Mings but Jack Stephens' clean was the Aardvarks winner.

The other two games concerned the bottom four. Nil Satis led twice at Fred West before going down 3-2. Moise Kean got his first for Paul S as his side went one up but the best goal of the game was Gabriel Martinelli’s length of the pitch run and shot that got the Gardeners back to 2-2. Cesar Azpilicueta got Fred’s winner, stabbing in at the near post with six minutes left. The CFJs and Markian United drew 0-0. Nothing else to say.

Week 18 Results - Claymore storm ahead

Claymore Athletic FC 4 v 0 YTFIB
Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 1 v 3 Aardvark Abacus
Mega Buck Bandits 0 v 2 Cheese Makers
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 2 v 0 Markian United
Real Muppets 2 v 1 The Cow-Faced Juniors
San Dimas High School 1 v 2 Trusted By Millions
The Wateringhole Society 4 v 6 Stanley Athletic FC
Wheel Madrid 1 v 1 The Fabulous Artisans

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Claymore Athletic FC	18	13	3	2	58	23	35	42
2	The Fabulous Artisans	18	10	4	4	39	23	16	34
3	Trusted By Millions	18	10	4	4	42	34	8	34
4	San Dimas High School	18	11	1	6	31	25	6	34
5	Wheel Madrid	18	8	5	5	48	28	20	29
6	Stanley Athletic FC	18	9	2	7	46	41	5	29
7	Mega Buck Bandits	18	8	3	7	32	30	2	27
8	Aardvark Abacus	18	8	3	7	29	28	1	27
9	Cheese Makers	18	8	3	7	34	36	-2	27
10	The Wateringhole Society	18	6	7	5	34	36	-2	25
11	Real Muppets	18	6	4	8	38	38	0	22
12	YTFIB	18	6	4	8	22	24	-2	22
13	The Cow-Faced Juniors	18	7	1	10	22	35	-13	22
14	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	18	5	0	13	22	42	-20	15
15	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	18	4	2	12	21	45	-24	14
16	Markian United	18	1	2	15	13	43	-30	5

Clive has a bit of the ‘Rafa’ in him when it comes to stats on his own team. He pointed out that this week’s opponents, YTFIB, were the only team to beat him in the last 17 games. It didn’t happen twice in 18 games. It was fairly late before it was decided though. Teemu Pukki’s penalty was all that separated the sides with ten minutes to go before Sergio Aguero scored twice and Craig Cathcart got the clean to make it 4-0. Clive’s lead is eight points as there are three teams on 34 points. The Artisans lead that pack on goal difference after a 1-1 draw with Wheel Madrid. Jamie Vardy missed a penalty for Wheels but only had to wait another seven minutes to break the deadlock through a great hit from Jack Grealish. Ben grabbed a share of the points with Ciaran Clark’s clean.

Trusted are third after winning 2-1 at San Dimas and leapfrogging those opponents. My team led through Shane Long for all of three minutes before Leandro Trossard equalised for Beef and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s clean gave Trusted the win. Stanley Athletic are up to sixth after coming out on the right side of the highest scoring game of the season, 6-4 at the Wateringhole. Virgil van Dijk headed Aaron in front early, Pedro Neto and Harvey Barnes made it 2-1 to Kiran, Chris Wood poked in an equaliser before Raul Jimenez got a brace to extend the Society’s lead to 4-2. Four cleans from Aaron’s team including one from the aforementioned van Dijk keep his 100% record since joining the league.

Mega Bucks, the Aardvarks and Cheese Makers are all on 27 points in 7th, 8th and 9th. Dave’s team lead that group but went down 2-0 to Cheese Makers. Paolo Gazzaniga’s saved penalty put Matthew ahead with 20 minutes left and Andy Robertson’s clean rounded out the win. The Aardvarks fell behind to Fred youngster Gabriel Martinelli just before half-time but turned it round in the last ten minutes with a goal from John Fleck and cleans from Max Aarons and new signing Japhet Tanganga.

The Muppets needed cleans to beat the CFJs this week. Chris and co. took an early lead courtesy of Jan Bednarek’s goal, Ryan got level when Reece James left with a clean on 75 minutes and Toby Alderweireld’s clean completed the comeback. The battle of the bottom two went to Nil Satis. Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored from close range a minute before half-time and the 2-0 win was sealed when Fernandinho steered into his own goal. How’s your luck Ian, how’s your luck?